Saturday, September 22, 2012

Predictions: Crew v. Chicago

The Crew scurry up to Chicago to take on the Fire tonight, 8:30 PM EST (Seven Thirty, Central Standard Time). Weather should be cool (50s) and clear.

ABOUT THIS GAME
• Chicago has outright won 6 of last 8 (1 loss)
• Crew have nabbed 5 of last 8 (2 losses)
• Both teams a tad guilty of facing bad opponents of late though
• Crew Avg Opponent Rank in last 10: 13.8
• CHI Avg Opponent Rank in last 10: 12.3
• Regular Crew starter, Dilly Duka, is not with the team in Chicago (reason given: family issues reports Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch).
• Higuain still in pain reports the Crew.com "I need to keep working on the rehab and get rid of the pain as soon as possible."
• These two teams have each won their games at home by a score of 2:1 this year.
• CHI beat Columbus in the Carolina Challenge pre-season tournament (neutral site).

PREDICTIONS

WV Hooligan, Drew Epperley thinks this is a "three points or bust mission," for the Crew but steps back and calls it a draw; "...with three home games and one roadie to D.C. left to deal with, [the Crew] can get away with just a point too."

Our friendly sweat suited friends standing on the corner outside that bar you never go in think this should fall Chicago's way with 58% of the vote over at WinDrawWin. The odds makers at BET365 also favor the Fire 4/6. Draw is at 13/5 and Crew win at 17/4. Not entirely convincing compared to previous home advantages.

Whenever I pull up the Pick 'Em page at MLSsoccer.com I think of guys too old to be playing high school-ers in some sitcom. Regardless, they favor Chicago in this one, 4 picks out of 6 with two guys picking draw. Hey! 4/6!

Lastly, Adam Jardy (Dispatch subscription) thinks that it'll be tough for the Crew to pull this one out, saying; "...it will be a challenge to return home with more than one point."

THE BLUE RIDGE
Chicago handled Houston and Montreal pretty easily at home recently so tough to go with Columbus. Higuain is probably closer to 70% then 100 and I still believe Jairo Arrieta is not there either. Eddie Gaven was also in enough pain to get his shin checked out but he is clear to play.

With Dilly Duka out we may see Tony Tchani, Justin Meram or Emilio Renteria coming on to replace him. This could be a blessing in disguise for the visitors because I believe that Frank Klopas is an organized and prepared coach so at the very least this late Duka news will give him more to work on.

Odds are that Tchani will replace Duka and the Crew will try and pull a point out of this one. It's the Warzycha way even though Columbus has improved their attacking capabilities.

Last time these two met in Chicago (June 23rd), Warzycha fiddled around with his top 18 that had not lost in 6 straight games and lost to a shorthanded side (Gonzalo Segares ejected in the first half).